The traits, oil content and correlation studies of seed and kernel in Jatropha curcas L.

The single seed, kernel traits and oil content of 2000 seed samples of Jatropha curcas collected from China, Laos, Cambodia and Burma were analyzed based on no injury and contamination Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology. This study showed that there was a significant phenotypic variation for the seed weight and oil content in J. curcas (the coefficient of variation was 15.54 and 19.36%, respectively). The single seed weight was weak and negatively correlated with the seed oil content (r = -0.07). Based on the analysis of various seed traits, a new parameter WTRKS (width and thickness ratio of kernel to seed), was established. Analysis showed that the correlation between WTRKS and the oil content was highly positive (r = 0.92). Besides, WTRKS was also positively correlated with the single seed weight and the single kernel weight (r = 0.32 and r = 0.40). Therefore, WTRKS can be regarded as an important parameter for the improvement of both seed oil content and single seed weight of J. curcas .